A Very Lucky Present
by CinderFallOfHaven
Summary: It's Christmas Eve in the kingdom of Atlas and Qrow is very worried about making the celebration just right for his boyfriend, Clover Ebi.


A Very Lucky Present

It was Christmas Eve. All throughout Atlas and Mantle, citizens were beginning to wind down after a hectic day of shopping. Their gifts were in beautiful packages and the aura radiated from the city was nothing but joy. Team RWBY was returning from their missions to end the day and snuggle up inside, telling each other fun stories, drinking hot chocolate, and staying awake as long as they can to catch a glimpse of St. Schneecholas. While the girls walked forward towards Atlas Academy to revel, Qrow stayed back when he noticed Clover start to head to an airship.

"Hey, Clover," Qrow shouted over. "Where you going?"

Clover smirked. "Just need to go do some things down in Mantle. Shouldn't take too long, then I'll be right back."

"Alright. Well. Don't take too long!" Qrow stumbled over his words. He hasn't felt like this towards anyone in such a long time and he didn't quite know what to say to get it right.

Clover smiled once again in that warm way he always did towards Qrow, then departed down into Mantle. Qrow took this as the perfect opportunity to finally wrap the gift he had gotten Clover. He stepped inside and he was immediately greeted by the ever-energetic Penny Polendina.

"Salutations and good evening, Qrow! It's a pleasure to see you again on this wonderful holiday."

Qrow kinda waved, "oh, hey, Penny. What're you up to?"

"Just doing a perimeter check before heading to team RWBY's dormitory space to 'hang out' and participate in their festivities!" Penny's eyes glittered brightly as she talked about going to have a party with the others.

Qrow chuckled. She reminded him of when he was a student again. "Well, I won't keep you. I need to go do stuff of my own. Very important stuff."

"Oooo! Is it a present? It's the holidays, so I imagine it must be a gift! Who is it for? Yang? Ruby?"

Penny's smile was like that of someone wanting in on a secret. Qrow felt nearly obligated to tell her. "It's…for Clover." He blushed.

"Clover! Right! Your boyfriend!" Qrow could feel his face burning up. "Uh, Qrow? Are you okay?"

"Huh? What?" Qrow stammered a little.

"Your face! It's as bright as…well…Ruby's cape. Are you alright?" Penny was genuinely concerned. Ruby will hear about this. Regardless if Qrow can play it off well.

"Y-yeah! I'm great! Perfect, in fact! I'm gonna continue on to doing that thing that I need to do and you should go to the party thing over at that place!" Qrow didn't even realize that he had made his hands into guns, but he tried as much as he could to get Penny to stop questioning.

Penny looked at him for a few seconds. Analyzing him. Then she nodded. "Yes! Okay! I'll be on my way!" She walked past Qrow and he sighed in relief.

_Seriously. This generation can be hard to talk to sometimes. _He thought to himself as he moved through the gray halls of Atlas Academy.

He arrived in his room and moved towards the back near the window. Outside, he could see the gentle snow start to fall and accumulate on the ground. He smiled again. _When was the last time that I felt this happy? _His gaze fell on his reflection in the window. He was not as gaunt and pale as he used to be. When did that change? He seemed to have more life to him, at least. _Did…did all of this happen because I stopped drinking?_ Qrow couldn't believe how much he had grown since their troubles in Anima. He genuinely looked healthy again.

He eventually broke his gaze, remembering something more important. He picked up his gift, which was in a small box, and pulled out some wrapping paper he bought while he ordered the gift. He measured out the paper perfectly and brought the scissors across the paper. It glided through like a warm knife cutting through butter. He grabbed the tape dispenser and began to pull off pieces of tape to wrap it. He started to bring one edge over, but it ripped. He groaned in annoyance. _Of course. _He checked to see if he could salvage what he had cut out already. As luck would have it, he could. He felt happy again and started to even hum a little as he worked. But then he heard the door creak open.

"Uncle Qrow? Are you okay? Penny told me about what happened earlier and I wanted to check on you." Ruby walked into his room. She had on a bright red sweater that fell nearly to her knees. Her black leggings tucked comfortably into her leisure boots.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about that." Qrow tried to play it off.

"Hmm. Nope!" Ruby plopped down on his bed – which he had made neatly earlier – and she smiled at him. "You're family. Anything that could bother me will bother me until I know it won't be a bother. Or at least, that's what I seem to think!"

Qrow looked at her. She really had grown up quickly. "Alright. It's not a big deal. I was just embarrassed is all."

"Embarrassed? About what? Spill the tea. Tell me." Ruby's eyes glittered oddly like how Penny's did.

"Eh, it's nothing big. Penny just…used the b-word." Qrow rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. "I'm just…new. No, not new. It's just been a long time since I was at this 'romance' thing."

"Ooooooh. I see. You don't think you're ready to use the b-word yet, right?" Ruby nodded in understanding. Taken aback at her keen observance, Qrow nodded. "Well, I don't think that's anything to be embarrassed about. You'll know when's the right time to say it." Ruby smiled yet again.

"Thanks, kid." Qrow returned the smile. That's when he heard the airship start to fly back in. "You should probably return to your party. I've got my own things to take care of." He picked up the package and smirked.

"Okay! I'll see you later," she started to leave but turned back to him. "Right?"

"Yes, of course. I wouldn't want to miss spending time with you and Yang."

"Good. I'll see you later!" Ruby took off down the hall.

Qrow left his room shortly after he knew Ruby was gone. The door clicked shut and he started to walk through the gray halls again. His heart started to beat in his chest and he noticed that he was walking a little faster and his palms were getting sweaty. _Why am I so nervous? _He kept thinking too hard about his nervousness and before long, he was at the steps that led out to the airship space. He was still walking quickly and thinking rapidly. Ice. His shoe slid across the ice and he began to fall backwards. His mind was completely preoccupied and was unprepared for ice. He accepted his fate when a strong, firm hand reached out and clasped his own.

Qrow looked up to see Clover, whose cheeks were beginning to turn slightly rosy from the weather. "Qrow, I seem to catch you falling for me a lot!" Clover chuckled a little as he helped Qrow back to his feet.

"It's the ice this time." Qrow was happy Clover happened to be there to catch him. That was pure luck.

"We'll look out for that better going forward. I'm all done with my shopping!" Clover held up a cute little gift bag with red and green tissue inside. "Do you want to exchange now or…?"

"Let's wait until later. We should do something fun for a change." Qrow smirked. "Unless you'd rather we open our gifts now?"

"Lucky me, I get to pick. Hmm, let's go with later." Clover puts his arm on Qrow's shoulders and they headed back into Atlas Academy.

The night was filled with amusement. Team RWBY fought against JNPR in the cafeteria in yet another food fight. Winter was not happy about the destruction that lay waste, but Penny offered to clean it up easily. The groups each pitched in to help the clean-up, laughing throughout.

Clover and Qrow sat next to each other on a couch in front of a fireplace. Qrow was enjoying where he was but then felt his heart leap when Clover leaned his head up against Qrow's shoulder. He didn't let words ruin the moment. He just leaned his head against Clover's. Qrow felt like he could just fall asleep right there in bliss. His eyes started to close.

"You know…we still have to exchange our gifts. Don't be falling asleep on me yet." Clover chuckled at his own joke.

"You've been around my older niece for too long." Qrow chuckled, his eyes still closed. "But you're right. Would you want to do that now?"

"Mmm…" Clover waited a little before giving his answer. "Let's just enjoy the fire for a little bit longer." He paused. "I like how we are right now."

Qrow smiled, "me too."

Qrow didn't even realize he had fallen asleep until he woke up. It was dark out. Very late in the night. He also realized that he wasn't resting his head against Clover's anymore, but his pillow felt different. He turned his head up and saw Clover's smiling face.

"Enjoy your nap?"

Qrow processed this revelation for a few seconds. His face beamed red again. "Y-yes."

Clover laughed heartily. "I didn't want to disturb you! You looked so calm. You were – are – so adorable, it almost felt like a crime to wake up."

Qrow sat up and rubbed his eyes. He saw that the others were sitting around the fire in their own groups. Ruby, Weiss, and Penny were chatting nearby the fire. Ren was refereeing an arm-wrestling competition between Elm and Nora while Jaune and Oscar cheered for Nora and Marrow cheered for Elm. Blake and Yang were cozied up next to the fire where Yang was reading a story to Blake. It was a very nice sight to see after all the hardships they've all been through together.

"Alright, let's go." Qrow stood up, turned back, reached out his hand and helped Clover off the couch.

They both walked towards Qrow's room. Clover still had his gift handy, while Qrow needed to get his gift from his room. He opened the door and walked inside towards the window. He could see the night sky above. It was serene and beautiful. While below, he saw the benevolent and warm lights of Mantle.

"Charming, isn't it?" Clover walked into Qrow's room.

"It's a very beautiful sight. I don't think I can ever get used to it." Qrow said, nearly in awe.

"I know I can't." Qrow turned to see that Clover was talking about Qrow.

Qrow's hand fumbled around desk until he nudged the package. He gripped it lightly and brought it forward, then pushed it outwards towards Clover. "Merry Christmas."

Clover smiled warmly at Qrow. Clover gave his gift to Qrow in exchange. "Merry Christmas!"

Qrow looked at the gift bag again. On closer inspection, he noticed that the tissue paper wasn't just green and red. On the green tissue was Clover's symbol and on the red tissue was Qrow's symbol. Qrow could actually feel tears welling up in his eyes, but he suppressed them. _Not yet_. He watched as Clover began to tear into the meticulous wrapping job Qrow had spent so much time on to perfect. This gift had to be right. After the wrapping came off, Clover just held the box in his hands, admiring the box. Clover looked up at Qrow and nodded his head, signaling that Qrow should open his. Qrow neatly took the tissue out of the bag and placed it on the table. Inside the bag, he saw a four-leaf clover pin. He pulled it out in awe. Clover was very pleased with himself for this gift. Qrow flipped the pin over to see an engraving on the other side. "We're in Luck".

"Do you like it? I thought it would be nice to have a matching pin." Clover watched Qrow, waiting to see what Qrow would do next.

Qrow takes the pin and sticks it onto his shirt over his heart. "I'll make sure to never take it off."

Clover smiled softly at Qrow. This time, Qrow nodded his head at Clover to open his gift. Clover looked at the box and started to take the cover off. Immediately after he saw what was inside the box, Clover began to cry. Clover gently took out a necklace. At the center of the silver chain was Qrow's symbol and inside the open part, was a clover.

Qrow immediately moved to hold Clover. They embraced. Qrow rubbed Clover's back as Clover cried softly. "You filled the hole in my heart, Clover. I wanted to give something to remind you of that."

"T-thank you." Clover said through the tears. Qrow moved back a little to be able to see Clover's eyes. Clover stepped away, wiping the tears from his eyes. "You know? It's actually kind of funny. I'm always talking about my good fortune…turns out the best thing it's ever given me was bad fortune." Clover looked at Qrow, tears still forming around his eyes. "I love you."

Qrow's heart leaped in a near state of euphoria. "This gift you gave me isn't even the best thing. You are. You're the best boyfriend I could ever ask for."

Clover's eyes widen a little. "Qrow…you said the b-word."

"I know. I love you, too."

Clover and Qrow sat together in silence for the rest of the night. Letting their "I love you" being the last thing either of them said. They sat together as they watched the snow fall. _I love you, Clover Ebi_.


End file.
